Thousands of health care professionals across the country have a new opportunity to share resources, ideas and information thanks to an innovative concept in medicine – the virtual community. The first virtual community that is part of a federal grant awarded to Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Global Health Delivery Project (GHD) went public in June.

“The US Communities Initiative will enrich GHD’s online platform through a continued exchange of ideas between new and seasoned professionals across geographies,” said Rebecca Weintraub, MD, an associate physician in the Division of Global Health Equity and faculty director of the GHD. “The virtual communities will facilitate an important cross-pollination of ideas, as well as the dissemination of new, translatable knowledge, for health care professionals working in the United States and around the world.”

The grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will enable GHD to host six professional virtual communities and 36 virtual expert panels on www.GHDonline.org over the next three years. Topics will range from the Affordable Care Act to mental health integration with a goal of sharing innovative ways to deliver evidence-based health care to underserved communities in the United States. Interested health care professionals are invited to join GHDonline and shape the US Communities Initiative by suggesting future discussions.